A Reel Education

We talked about this movie as far back as Episode 1 and it is finally here!  Jena gets shown one of the great classic noir films that she had, until this point, only known about through an episode of the Animanianiacs.  We talk about Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, maguffins and one of the most famous movie props of all time. Enjoy our conversation about The Maltese Falcon!

Our next episode will be recorded live at the Trylon Theater on Sunday, November 30th.  We’ll be watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

The post Episode 35 – The Maltese Falcon appeared first on A Reel Education.

In our last episode, we watched a documentary.  This episode, we watched a mockumentary!  We showed Jena a film by a group of gifted comedians who have sort of mastered the genre.  A Mighty Wind is a fabulously funny film about folk music. Created by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, it has a smart approach to the topic and even manages to be poignant every now and again.  It’s one of Tim’s favorite movies.  We hope it will be one of yours as well!

Our next episode will be about The Maltese Falcon!

The post Episode 34 – A Mighty Wind appeared first on A Reel Education.

For this episode, we took a look at a genre that has, as yet been untouched by our podcast – the documentary!  We chose the 2009 Oscar winner, Man on Wire. The movie tells the story of one amazing stunt and at the same time, it tells the story of two buildings.  We talk about this film as well as the genre of documentaries in general. The film is streaming on Netflix so we highly recommend checking it out.

Our next episode will be about A Mighty Wind!

The post Episode 33 – Man on Wire appeared first on A Reel Education.

Jena had a last minute conflict so we were forced to enlist an emergency stunt Jena.  Fortunately, Tim’s wife Pat was available.  We had to make an alteration in movie (Pat has seen Man on Wire) so we pulled out The Dirty Dozen! This classic example of a mission movie involves a great cast trying to save the world from the Nazis.  Because that’s what heroes do.  They save the world from the Nazis.

Our next movie will, we promise, be Man on Wire!

The post Episode 32 – The Dirty Dozen appeared first on A Reel Education.

We’ve finally arrived at “the greatest movie ever made” – Citizen Kane!  We tackle Orson Welles’ groundbreaking film as well as it’s reputation.  We encounter a stable of great actors and talk about Welles’ career.  Is this film the greatest move ever?  That is certainly a matter of taste.  We spend a lot of time talking about the film’s legacy and that may be more important than the film itself.

We also say the next movie we watch will be “Man on Wire.”  Turns out we were wrong.  It will be “The Dirty Dozen.”

The post Episode 31 – Citizen Kane appeared first on A Reel Education.

Having tackled Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, we used our latest episode to look at Ed Wood’s magnum opus, Plan 9 From Outer Space!  The film, rightly or wrongly, is hailed as the worst movie of all time.  Our friend and bad movie aficionado Kelvin Hatle joins us once again to explore what will forever be known as Bela Lugosi’s last film.  Listen as we talk about how this film got made and how it went from obscurity to cult classic.

Our next episode will be all about one of the best movies ever made: Citizen Kane!

The post Episode 30 – Plan 9 From Outer Space appeared first on A Reel Education.

This episode, we enter the world of Tim Burton and his homage to the king of bad movies, Ed Wood!  What is true and what is not true about this story is nowhere near as important as the personal touch Burton brings to this story.  You can tell that this is a movie dedicated to everyone who wanted to be an artist so badly, the fact they had no talent was of little consequence.

Our next episode is inspired by this one.  We’ll be watching Plan 9 From Outer Space!

The post Episode 29 – Ed Wood appeared first on A Reel Education.

Our newest installment was once again recorded live at the Trylon microcinema in Minneapolis!  We watched Metropolis with live accompaniment from Fugitive.  Jena was treated to what many would consider the first true Science Fiction film with original music composed specially for the showing! A sold out house joined us for a great experience and many of them stayed behind to discuss the film.  It was a great discussion cut short only because we wanted to make sure the folks at the Trylon could go home.

Please note that part one of the episode was recorded outside and part two was recorded inside the theater with audience interaction.  We apologize if anything is difficult to hear.

The break music is “Desruction” by Loverboy.  It comes from the Moroder soundtrack.

Our August 15th episode will be a discussion of Tim Burton’s Ed Wood!

The post Episode 28 – Metropolis appeared first on A Reel Education.

July is silent film month at A Reel Education!  For our newest episode, we had Jena watch Buster Keaton’s best known work – The General!  Not only was this our first Buster Keaton film, it was our first trip into the world of silent film.  We talk a lot about how the musical accompaniment changes the experience of watching one of these films.

Speaking of silent films and musical accompaniment, our next episode will be recorded live at the Trylon theater on July 20th!  We’ll be watching Metropolis with a live band!

The post Episode 27 – The General appeared first on A Reel Education.

This week’s episode was recorded live at the Trylon theater in Minneapolis.  We watched Francis Ford Coppola’s classic thriller The Conversation featuring Gene Hackman.  Afterward, we had a spirited conversation with several members of the audience.  Because we were live in the theater, some of the conversation might be a little bit quiet for some listeners.  Sorry about that!

Our next episode will be all about Buster Keaton’s The General!

The post Episode 26 – The Conversation appeared first on A Reel Education.